Sacramento Kings fans got a Black History Month lesson in a can this month. Thanks to the unique cooperation of a local brewery Oak Park Brewery AND Hella coastal brewery from Oakland, California, OP Beam Hazy IPA was served in any respect home games during Black History Month. The union was brought together by a craft beer lifestyle brand Draft season as a part of the continuing “Beer is Black History” campaign.

The beer features African Queen hops imported from South Africa combined with New Zealand layered hops, a popular selection of many craft breweries resulting from its complex, dank aroma profile. There are also some stone fruit notes mixed with guava and citrus. This combination gives drinkers a less bitter, more juicy and fragrant experience, making the brew more appealing to individuals who don’t drink beer often, in addition to those that drink it often.

“We were all just thinking about what kind of mouthfeel we wanted and what notes we wanted to accentuate,” said Mario Benjamin, co-founder of Hella Coastal. “And at the same time, make it accessible.”

OP Beam debuted on February 7 throughout the Kings game against the Detroit Pistons. Fans learned concerning the collaboration during breaks in play through jumbotron interviews and were invited to go to the section where beer was sold.

“What’s great is that a lot of people that got here told us they didn’t even really drink beer, they simply got here because they watched it and saw it on the jumbotron and thought, ‘Oh, let’s leaf through that section and see what happens.’ . that they’re talking about,” said Kevin Irvin, co-founder of Draft Season. “They bought a beer, came back and let us know what they thought.”

The Kings lost the sport, however the beer won.

“It was also important to be able to educate and understand what the black history of beer means,” Irvin said.

The idea for Beer Is Black History was born a few months after Draft Season launched in October 2020. Draft Season was initially intended to offer craft beer lovers with clothes and accessories through which they might express themselves, very similar to sports fans have dozens of brands to select from. Their first drops included trucker hats, T-shirts and sweatshirts with beer-inspired logos and slogans. But as February 2021 approached, they desired to make a statement during Black History Month.

“I started doing some research and came across the entire story of how the first known beer recipe was created in 3900 BC in Mesopotamia by Sumerian black women,” said Draft Season co-founder Branden Peters. “I thought, oh, because I had no idea such a thing existed. We should tell this story, we should spread this message.”

Some historians claim that beer originated from the Sumerians, who were black because they called themselves “blackheads”, while others claim that they were North Africans and had black hair. Reports also say that beer was brewed throughout Africa before the recipe appeared in Mesopotamia. While all of this will likely be true, Penn Museum biomolecular archaeologist Patrick McGovern summed it up best when he said: Washington Post. that the primary beer probably got here from Africa, because that is where the primary people were.

“We had to have a real conversation about putting this in people’s faces and not tiptoeing around it,” Irvin said. “If we are going to fly this flag, we have to be brave.”

The statement was well received and spread quickly. The first capsule collection was designed by multi-tasking Atlanta designer (“International DJ/Event Curator/MC/Writer/Producer” based on his Instagram profile) Sean Falyon and was together with a lookbook featuring Grammy Award-winning rapper Killer Mike. This publication led to the “Beer Is Black History” campaign being introduced to Black-owned breweries across the country, who also bought into the message. In February 2022, draft season worked with three Black-owned breweries release “Beer Is Black History” brews, including one from Hella Coastal.

“When we met and started talking to each other, we felt like dudes we knew but didn’t know we knew,” said Benjamin, who was introduced to Draft Season by longtime reporter and craft beer expert Dennis “Ale Sharpton” Byron. Draft Season and the primary Hella Coastal collaboration, Overrated IPAwas released with great enthusiasm and its can art was appreciated by as certainly one of the highest 10 of 2022. “Everything was on the same page and we knew we wanted the same goal, which was to break down the barriers to what it looks like for Black people to own craft beer.”

Right now, Black ownership in craft beer is almost invisible. According to National Black Brewery AssociationAfrican American-owned breweries make up lower than 1% of the roughly 10,000 craft breweries operating within the United States, regardless that they account for 12% of beer drinkers.

“We don’t see enough of us in space,” Benjamin said, “so people will begin to get the impression that this is not the place for us. So I feel it’s really nearly creating that pathway and making those resources available in order that African Americans, men and ladies, and non-binary people can have access to those self same resources. But it also takes a lot of allyship for us to take it to the following level and really break down that barrier and the assumption that beer is just for the white guy with a beer belly and a beard. No, this is applicable to all of us and there is a lot behind it which you could learn from.

“When people just close Black and Brown breweries, they just miss out on what could have been,” said Rodg Little, co-owner of Oak Park Brewing. “Different cultures have different flavors. From my experience with the different cultures we work with, I know I’ve had some phenomenal beers.”

Since the vast majority of NBA players and lots of of their fans are Black, it might make sense for more Black-owned corporations to partner with NBA teams. If collaborations like OP Beam are successful, possibly it won’t be such an anomaly.

“Having ‘Beer is Black History’ front and center at the Golden 1 Center and having it on the jumbotron is the darkest thing that’s happened in the NBA since Craig Hodges wore a dashiki to the White House,” Peters said in 1991.